‘Rocky Horror Picture Show’ cancelled last minute

Two days before the midnight showing of “Rocky Horror Picture Show,” the event was cancelled because of concerns for potential facility damage and insufficient security.The movie was to be shown in the Morrison and Streeter Halls’ Living Learning Communities Lounge and open to all campus students. During the show, the plan was to follow long-standing traditions of squirting water in the air and throwing dry goods during specific scenes.Several weeks of planning and promoting the event had taken place when it was cancelled two days prior to the scheduled showing date, Oct. 27. Concerns that the food would cause damage and that there would not be sufficient security to ensure non-residents did not enter the rest of Morrison Hall and Streeter Hall were the two main reasons it was cancelled, according to Living Learning Communities coordinator Deb Stafford.

Dexter Calkins, president of Eastern’s Rocky Horror Picture Show Club: An Initiative to Make EWU Weird, was working with Stafford to use the Living Learning Communities Lounge for the event. According to Stafford, she realized too late that food and water were actually going to be used and said, “Once it all came together for me, I knew there needed to be more time for thought and planning.”

Stafford said, “I really feel like it was a misunderstanding on my part. Dexter came to me several times, and I think in my mind I just hadn’t quite put it all together. And then I had the responsibility to decide that that really couldn’t happen, even though it was at the last minute.”

According to Stafford, the security issue was the need to ensure non-residents did not enter the rest of Morrison or Streeter, as those halls are locked 24 hour a day and require a key card to enter. “Usually, it’s [reserving the lounge] done case-by-case basis, and if a resident of the building wants to reserve that room. … then they can reserve that room. So it’s when it opens up campus wide [that] it just changes the dynamic of how that works.”

Vice president of the club Josiah Ingram, who helped prepare setup for the event, said, “I don’t necessarily think they weren’t valid concerns, but precautions were put in place for their concerns.” According to Calkins and Ingram, tarps were going to be used to collect the water and food, and some of Calkin’s friends were going to stand guard of the hall doors to ensure non-residents did not enter into the rest of Morrison and Streeter.

Stafford said, “I didn’t feel like Dexter alone could manage both halls because you don’t know who’s going to show for an all campus event. So it might be something that could be looked at in the future of what would be needed if you were going to show a movie, not necessarily throw food.”

Stafford commented that the Living Learning Communities Lounge does not have any kind of damage deposit and that there are rarely outside groups who use the lounge.

According to Calkins, the Multipurpose Room was ideally where the show would have been held but there were scheduling conflicts. Other rooms that would have been a good location were also unavailable for multiple reasons. “LLC was our last chance,” he said.

“We need a space for regular celebration that doesn’t include alcohol or drugs, and as a student here, I was hard-struck to find such celebration. But, after finding out how many people have not attended a ‘Rocky Horror,’ I really now just want to share this experience with this school. It is the weirdest thing you will ever do,” said Calkins.

For future students wanting to hold events at the Living Learning Communities Lounge, Stafford suggested putting all the details in writing to avoid any confusion. “I didn’t request this from Dexter so he proceeded with his plans and I assumed some things,” said Stafford.

“We really weren’t setup for all the things he wanted to do … and it’s a misunderstanding on my part.

“I really appreciate students like Dexter with creative out-of-the-box ideas. I wish I would have had a better understanding. Trying to plan events that are new and different is great. I think he has some great ideas that could serve the EWU students well.”